Rule Responder: A Multi-Agent Web Platform for Collaborative Virtual Organizations Based on RuleML and OO jDREW Benjamin Craig University Of New Brunswick APICS 2007 Saturday, October 13, 2007

Outline Overview Overview Agents Agents Personal Personal Organizational Organizational External External Rule Engines Rule Engines Prova Prova OO jDREW OO jDREW Communication Middleware Communication Middleware Mule ESB Mule ESB Reaction RuleML messages Reaction RuleML messages Demo Demo Use Cases Use Cases

Overview of Rule Responder Rule Responder is an intelligent multi-agent system for collaborative teams and virtual communities Rule Responder is an intelligent multi-agent system for collaborative teams and virtual communities Supports rule-based collaboration between the different members of the virtual organization Supports rule-based collaboration between the different members of the virtual organization Uses RuleML as its Rule Markup Language, based on logic and XML Uses RuleML as its Rule Markup Language, based on logic and XML The member of the RuleML family employed here is Naf Hornlog The member of the RuleML family employed here is Naf Hornlog Implemented as a Web-based service architecture Implemented as a Web-based service architecture

Architecture - Overview

Personal Agents A personal agent represents a single person of an organization A personal agent represents a single person of an organization The personal agent contains a FOAF* profile with FOAF extended rules The personal agent contains a FOAF* profile with FOAF extended rules *The Friend of a Friend (FOAF) project:

Organizational Agents Organizational agents are used to represent shared goals and strategies of each person in the collaborative team Organizational agents are used to represent shared goals and strategies of each person in the collaborative team Organizational agents contain rule sets that describe their organizations’ policies, regulations, opportunities, etc. Organizational agents contain rule sets that describe their organizations’ policies, regulations, opportunities, etc.

External Agents External agents communicate with the virtual organization by sending messages that transport queries, answers, or complete rule sets to the public interface of the organizational agents External agents communicate with the virtual organization by sending messages that transport queries, answers, or complete rule sets to the public interface of the organizational agents HTTP interface to Rule Responder HTTP interface to Rule Responder Support for multiple unique External Agents (end users) at a single time Support for multiple unique External Agents (end users) at a single time Users can use a web browser to communicate with Rule Responder (current test interface) Users can use a web browser to communicate with Rule Responder (current test interface)

Rule Engines Prova (Prolog + Java) Prova (Prolog + Java) OO jDREW (Object Oriented Java Deductive Reasoning Engine for the Web) OO jDREW (Object Oriented Java Deductive Reasoning Engine for the Web)

Prova Prova is used to implement the organizational agents of Rule Responder Prova is used to implement the organizational agents of Rule Responder Prova is also used as some personal agents Prova is also used as some personal agents

OO jDREW OO jDREW is used for personal agents in Rule Responder OO jDREW is used for personal agents in Rule Responder Two modes of Rule Execution: Two modes of Rule Execution: Bottom-up (forward reasoning) Bottom-up (forward reasoning) Top-down (backward reasoning) Top-down (backward reasoning) Rule Responder primarily uses top-down Rule Responder primarily uses top-down Supports rules in the following formats: Supports rules in the following formats: POSL (Positional Slotted Language) POSL (Positional Slotted Language) RuleML RuleML

Communication Middleware Mule Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Mule Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Mule is used to create communication end points at each personal and organizational agent of Rule Responder Mule is used to create communication end points at each personal and organizational agent of Rule Responder Mule supports various transport protocols (i.e. http, jms, soap) Mule supports various transport protocols (i.e. http, jms, soap) Rule Responder uses http and jms as transport protocols Rule Responder uses http and jms as transport protocols

Reaction RuleML Reaction RuleML is a branch of the RuleML family that supports actions and events Reaction RuleML is a branch of the RuleML family that supports actions and events When two agents need to communicate, each others’ Reaction RuleML messages are sent through the ESB When two agents need to communicate, each others’ Reaction RuleML messages are sent through the ESB

Use Cases RuleML-2007 Symposium RuleML-2007 Symposium Single Organizational Agent that acts as the single point of entry to the conference Single Organizational Agent that acts as the single point of entry to the conference Assist with planning, preparing, and running the Symposium Assist with planning, preparing, and running the Symposium Personal Agents represent Chairs of the Symposium Personal Agents represent Chairs of the Symposium

Online Demo / / / /

Example Message <RuleML xmlns=" <RuleML xmlns=" xmlns:xsi=" xmlns:xsi=" xsi:schemaLocation=" xsi:schemaLocation=" xmlns:ruleml2007=" xmlns:ruleml2007=" RuleML-2007 RuleML-2007 esb esb User User sponsor sponsor contact contact ben ben nrc nrc results results Level Level Benefits Benefits DeadlineResults DeadlineResults performative performative Action Action

Example Message <RuleML xmlns=" <RuleML xmlns=" xmlns:xsi=" xmlns:xsi=" xsi:schemaLocation=" xsi:schemaLocation=" xmlns:ruleml2007=" xmlns:ruleml2007=" RuleML-2007 RuleML-2007 esb esb user user getContact getContact ruleml2007_Challenge ruleml2007_Challenge update update Contact Contact

Rule Bases airAgent2.posl airAgent2.posl airAgent2.posl airAgent2.posl blicityChair.posl blicityChair.posl blicityChair.posl blicityChair.posl